Monday, June 17, 2013

The Cancer Blog: Week 21

My Health

This blog within a blog will discuss cancer and all of my fears, hopes and expectations for a positive outcome—full and complete recovery. In addition, I plan to throw in some latest medical research. All cancer patients are interested, to some degree, in research and the latest medical findings; I am no exception.

Today is Day 182 living with cancer; tomorrow is chemo session no 9. Last week’s scheduled session was cancelled since my platelet count was very low at 73 X 10 E9/L.

There is so much going on in the way of cancer research. It seems that a new finding is happening weekly, if not daily. It is very exciting stuff. Here are a few recent developments that caught my attention:

Grapefruit Juice: An articlein the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says that nanoparticles derived from the juice of a grapefruit might one day deliver cancer therapies to humans that are less toxic than current chemo drugs derived from synthetic materials. The research is in its early stages.

New Screening Process: An innovative approach for cancer screening, which uses Google-like technology to give doctors a better more precise picture of the colon, has been developed at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. The purpose of such a medical device is to prevent the incidences of colorectal cancer. An article, by Sheryl Ubelacker, in The National Post explains some of the benefits of the technology:

Miniature Chip: An article, by Paul Gabrielsen, in Science says that two biomedical engineers—Mehmet Toner and Emre Ozkumur—both working at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, have designed and developed a miniature silicon chip, the article says, "the size of a microscope slide etched with microchannels each no wider than a hair." It promises to detect what are called circulating tumor cells (CTCs), that is, cancer cells that have entered the bloodstream.

Personal Genomics: An article, by Heidi Ledford, in Nature News says that medical oncologists might have more success with cancer therapies if they start relying on personal genomics; the thinking goes against prevailing ideas that one drug regime fits the needs of all cancer patients, or even of particular cancers such as colon or breast cancer. General clinical trials often don't tell the complete story, because they are general, statistical approach to predict viability.

Gene Identification: An article in BioMed Central, an open-access journal, says that researchers in Taiwan have identified eight genes that can accurately predict if cancer patients will survive chemotherapy, or in other words continue on to a relapse-free life.

Gene Variations & Breast Cancer: An article in National Institutes of Health (NIH says that “in women at high risk for breast cancer, a long-term drug treatment can cut the risk of developing the disease in half. Researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health have now identified two gene variants that may predict which women are most likely to benefit from this therapy — and which should avoid it.

“The work represents a major step toward truly individualized breast cancer prevention in women at high risk for the disease based on their age, family history of breast cancer, and personal medical history.” The two genes have been identified as ZNF423 and the other near a gene called CTSO. They act by affecting the activity of BRCA1, a known breast cancer risk gene.

BACH2 Gene & Autoimmune Diseases. Another article in the National Institutes of Health says that the BACH2 gene is important in regulating the immune system, and thus can be a clue to treat many autoimmune diseases that affect humans; it might also have an effect on cancer.

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This is a small sampling of what's going on around the world; there is a lot more going in cancer research; all of it is exciting and promising. There will soon come a time when cancer will be beaten, that is, it will be a disease among many not causing fear in the lives of patients. That day can’t come too soon, and with so much research devoted to cancer screening and therapy that day will likely come within five to ten years.

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Yiddish Sites (listed since August 2017)

There are dozens of sites dedicated to Yiddish language, culture and music. Here are some that I have found noteworthy. I will add to the list regularly. If you have a Yiddish site or know of one, please do not hesitate to contact me atpjgreenbaum@gmail.com:

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Afn Shvel(“On the Threshold”), a magazine published by the League for Yiddish, dating to 1941, it is committed to the promotion and preservation of the Yiddish language and culture. It published two double issues a year. Its editor-in-chief is Sheva Zucker;

American Jewish Archive at Hebrew Union College’s Jewish Institute of Religion contains more than 10 million pages of documents. manuscripts, genealogical materials, as well as thousands of audiovisual recordings, photographs, microfilm and digital collections;

Center for Jewish History, in New York City, has 5 miles of archival material (in dozens of languages), more than 500,000 volumes, as well asthousands of artworks, textiles, ritual objects, recordings and photographs;

JewishGen Yizkor Book Project, a database of more than 1,000 yizkor books worldwide, a good number of them have been translated from Hebrew and Yiddish into English;

Language and Cultural Atlas of Ashkenazic Jews,from Columbia University,consists of 5,755 hours of audio tape interviews with Yiddish-speaking Jews from Central and eastern Europe, done between 1959 and 1972 along with around 100,000 pages of linguistic field notes;

Lexilogos, a compilation of Yiddish online resources, including dictionaries, grammar books, and a translation of the Torah (Toyre) in Yiddish;

Milken Archive of Jewish Music, a record of the American Jewish Experience; since 1990, it has become the largest collection of American Jewish music with about 600 recorded works, including a number in Yiddish;

Museum of the Yiddish Theatre, an online museum originating in New York City and founded by Dr. Steven Lasky, has in its collection such items as photographs, theatre programs, sheet music, audio recordings and other documents of some importance and historical significance;

Pakn Treger, (“itinerant bookseller in Eastern Europe who traveled from shtetl to shtetl ”), the magazine of the Yiddish Book Centre;

Recorded Sound Archives (RSA) of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton contains more than 100,000 recordings of music, a great many in Yiddish;

Songs of My People, a site by Josephine Yalovitser dedicated to Yiddish songs of mourning and of joy;

The National Center For Jewish Film, based at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., is the home to 15,000 reels of feature films, documentaries, newsreels, home movies and institutional films, dating from 1903 to the present; this effort has led to the revival of Yiddish cinema;

Yizkor Book Collection at the New York Public Library provide a documentation of daily life, through essays and photographs and the memoralizing of murdered residents, of Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust. Of the 750 yizkor books in its collection, 618 have been digitalized. Most yizkor books are in Yiddish or Hebrew;

YUNG YiDiSH, a site dedicated to preserving and promoting Yiddish culture in Israel;